


run program {Completely Human}

by latelyllama



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Curious Tony Stark, Gen, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tony Stark Acting as Harley Keener's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 20:26:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19731178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/latelyllama/pseuds/latelyllama
Summary: "Who am I speaking to?""My name's Cody.""Wow that's original.""It's what I'm called. I didn't choose it.""And how's that spelt? COD-E?""Sure, if you want it to be. You still haven't told me who you are.""Tony."-------The Avengers uncover a hidden facility just north of New York City. Who built it and for what purpose is completely unknown, but what they find there may have them questioning a few things.





	1. COD-E

The alarm buzzed next to him, rousing the man from his slumber. Tony groaned. God, the one night he actually went to bed at a reasonable hour only to be woken up at, 3am! His alarm was still buzzing, but Tony checked his phone first. Sometimes Pepper would wake him up like this if he’d been ignoring something glaringly important, but that was exceedingly rare given how she knew how little he slept. Well, in his bed at least.

“Kill the alarm Friday. I’m awake” he grumbled and the buzzing stopped.

“You have a briefing in the conference room” the AI said as he pulled on some clothes.

3am was not a smart time so grease stained T-shirt and sweats it is.

“Do I need to have a stern conversation with Cap over something? I thought I had that scheduled for when I’m not half awake zombie” Tony said as he stumbled through the halls of the tower towards the correct room, Friday lighting the way as he went.

“I can keep that appointment in your diary if you’d like.”

“Please do.”

“Should I also add ranting to Nick Fury to your schedule as well? He’s the one that called the briefing” Friday asked.

That one eyed…

“Hold off on that until Captain Grumpybeard’s given me his spiel.”

Eventually, Tony reached the correct room. Already inside was Steve, already in his suit but luckily, for Tony at least, he looked a little grumpy at being woken up. At least it wasn’t just him. Natasha was also there, looking like she’d slept a full eight hours, though Tony could tell from the slight rigidity to her stillness that she’d not. Between insomniac engineers and veterans of countless missions, both good and bad, sleep was precious. The two greeted him quietly. One of the screens flickered to life. On it was Nick Fury, who may as well be a robot given how little he cared about human necessities. The bas…

“Glad you could join us Stark” Fury said as he sat down.

“Yeah well, I took a leaf out of your book and ignored one of my neglected human needs” Tony shot back.

Fury didn’t even react.

“What do you have for us?” Steve asked, ever the professional.

“One of our satellites picked up a suspicious energy bloom north of New York City. Given that that area is empty, there shouldn’t be anything that could have caused the bloom.”

Images and data appeared on one of the other screens. Tony looked it over.

“What do you mean by suspicious?” Natasha asked, also looking over the data.

“As in we can’t identify an origin. We can’t tell whether it’s on the surface or underground. We also can’t tell if it’s terrestrial in nature. None of our agents are close enough to the site and if it is alien, they don’t have the capabilities to deal with it” Fury said.

“And we do” Tony mused.

Fury nodded. When the man hung up, Steve gave the order to suit up and be ready in ten. Tony sauntered back to his floor when he nearly walked into someone. In front of him, clumsily rubbing sleep out of one of his eyes, was Harley. The teen blinked sleepily at Tony.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“What are you doing up?” Tony asked.

“Asked Friday if you were awake.”

Harley was obviously still asleep. He didn’t do early mornings, much to Tony’s slight chagrin when it was school.

“Nothing to worry about, just heading out. Shouldn’t be too long” Tony said.

“Anything I can help with?” Harley asked.

“Afraid not kid. Now get back to bed.”

“But...”

“Now” Tony said more forcibly.

With a quick ruffle of his hair, Harley turned and went back to his room. The teen hadn’t been living at the tower for very long, but long enough for him to want to help where he could. It was both very nice and terrifying, but Tony had been responsible and said no. Steve and Natasha were waiting for him on the landing platform. He answered Natasha’s frown with a simple ‘Harley’.

The plane ride was short but Tony kept his focus on the intel in front of him. Fury was right. There were signatures in the energy that you’d typically find from the a human power grid, but then there were anomalies, strange features that reminded him of early versions of his arc reactor. Since his company was the only one with access to an arc reactor or its schematics, this was definitely suspicious.

“Anything more you can tell us?” Natasha asked.

Since there were only three of them, this was a strictly recon mission.

“Irritatingly not.”

Landing a short distance away from the bloom, they approached on foot. Thousands of scenarios ran through Tony’s head. If it was aliens, the bloom might have been a ship landing. It couldn’t be a meteor otherwise there’d have been an impact. If it was some kind of facility, it could be heat venting, or energy discharge from equipment, or scrambled communications, or any number of other possibilities. Nothing was out of the ordinary. They walked through the small clumps of trees and bushes.

“Not like Fury to send us on a morning stroll” Tony commented.

And I was woken up at 3, for this! Steve rolled his eyes.

“He wouldn’t have sent us here for no reason.”

“Maybe he misread his own briefing notes” Tony said.

“Guys” Natasha said, drawing their attention.

She pointed to one of the trees and the clearing beyond it. The tree was cracked and warped slightly, the bark deformed. The clearing beyond was a shambles as though someone had taken an air cannon to it.

“I think we’re in the right place” she said.

“Friday?” Tony tapped at his ear piece with his metal hand.

“Scanning now Boss.”

They remained at the edge of the clearing.

“The effect on the bark came from a sudden, intense but brief exposure to hot air” the Ai spoke into all of their ear pieces.

“Like a thermal exhaust of some kind?” Tony wondered aloud.

“Exactly like a thermal exhaust. I’m scanning the area now trying to find a source.”

“What do you think Tony?” Steve asked.

“Either there’s a facility of some kind underground venting heat, or a ship took off. Personally, I’m drawn to the former.”

“Boss, I’m detecting an opening 200 meters north northwest” Friday chimed in.

They found it not long after. The opening was a small hut. When they pushed open the door, they saw stairs leading down. Steve took point, leading them down into whatever this was. They reached the bottom and stepped out into a corridor. As they did, lights softly lit around them, illuminating sleep grey walls. The floor was metal and everything was clean, almost clinical like a hospital. The three exchanged a glance and Tony trusted that Friday was keeping Fury informed. Together, they set off, all warily glancing around. Lights turned on softly as they moved and the only sounds were the sounds of their footsteps. They peeked through the first door they found. It wasn’t at all suspicious that the door was unlocked. Slipping inside what appeared to be some sort of computer room, they took a moment to breathe.

“This feels like a trap” Steve said.

“I think I agree with the old man” Tony added.

“This place looks abandoned but it’s too clean. There’s nothing to show that anyone was here at all. There’s not even dust” Natasha pointed out.

“So abandoned secret bases have excellent services” Tony looked around, “well this place has power and computers. I’ll see if I can dig anything out of their system.”

“Nat and I can keep looking” Steve said, “stay on comms. Report anything you find.”

The two left, slowly and cautiously, while Tony kept working, sitting in front of the computer. The interface wasn’t like anything he’d seen before, but after a little while he figured out how to navigate. Or at least kind of as the operating system was somehow more infuriating than the interface.

“Friday, tell me you’re having better luck accessing the mainframe than I am” Tony complained as he ran into another restriction.

“I’m afraid not. The system must have some sort of adaptive security measures in place to prevent hacking” the AI responded from the suit which was standing guard.

“That being said, we’re two of the best hackers in the world. Surely we should be able to get into it.”

“We still don’t know who built this place, or if it was built by humans” Friday stated.

“I somehow doubt that aliens would come up with the qwerty keyboard but oh well, let’s keep trying” Tony sighed.

He stood up, hoping movement would help him think. The security was no doubt impressive. Whoever built this place wanted its secrets kept hidden, but why? What was so important about it? And who built it? Hydra was an obvious possibility, but there was no way they’d leave a base like this unguarded or let its location be given away by something like a thermal exhaust. The government? Ha! No way they’d have the funding and again, no way they’d leave it.

“Who are you?”

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice. His head whipped around but aside from his suit, he was alone in the room.

“Hello?” he tentatively asked.

“Who are you?”

The voice seemed to come from the room itself, not unlike when Friday talked back at the tower. Did this place have an AI?

“Who am I speaking to?” Tony asked.

All of Tony’s AI’s gave their name when asked, since it was a regular occurrence that new people in the tower would be frightened of the disembodied voice. Hopefully this one would do the same.

“My name’s Cody.”

Cody, really.

“Wow, that’s original” Tony deadpanned.

“It’s what I’m called. I didn’t choose it” the voice said.

“And how’s that spelled? COD-E?”

“Sure, if you want it to be” COD-E said.

The voice was young and didn’t sound robotic, which felt weird to Tony, since why would you program an AI with a young voice.

“You still haven’t told me who you are?”

If Tony wasn’t impulsive and prone to some poor decisions, he’d probably have reported to his teammates that he’d found something and not given the AI any information. That would have been the sensible thing to do. However, he was impulsive and less said about some of his decisions the better, and whoever this AI was, they knew more about the base than him.

“Tony.”

There was a pause and Tony worried that the AI would be silent since it had what it asked for.

“You’re Tony Stark?”

COD-E sounded in awe, like Peter, and then Harley, had sounded upon meeting the Avengers for the first time. It was … odd hearing that tone from a computer.

“The one and only, though how’d you know my last name?” Tony asked.

“Who else would have a suit like that!” COD-E practically squealed in delight, “it’s so cool!”

Being complemented by a computer program? Nice.

“You’re not too bad yourself. It’s a nice base you’ve got there” Tony said.

“Thank you” COD-E said and Tony could practically hear the non-existent blush.

So this AI was more personal than the ones he made, Tony thought, almost like it was made as to be a companion. Maybe to be a child, if the young voice was anything to go by. Tony sat down again, swinging idly as he looked vaguely at the ceiling. That was where the cameras probably were.

“So tell me COD-E, how long have you been here on your own?” Tony asked lightly, his tone conversational.

“It’s been a little while, a couple of months.”

“That must’ve been lonely?”

“I guess. I missed talking to people, but I never thought I’d get to talk to you” COD-E answered.

Tony smiled. It was like talking to a fan.

“Wait, how did you find this place? I was told it was undetectable” COD-E asked.

Again, he probably shouldn’t give anything away, but Tony was enjoying this conversation too much.

“Energy bloom. Burned a whole chunk of nature up there” he said.

“Of course. I thought those vents would be detectable but the doctor said it would be fine. They’d never get big enough. I guess was right” COD-E said.

So there was a doctor, probably the one that made the AI. He really needed to look through the computer systems, but that would be so much harder with an AI watching his every move. But maybe?

“COD-E, perhaps you could help me” Tony started.

“Oh? With what?”

“I was trying to get onto his computer and was having trouble with it. Could you help me get into the system?”

It was a ridiculous gamble, but at least he might keep the AI occupied so Friday could have more luck getting in. He hoped that’s what she was doing since she hadn’t said anything in a while.

“Of course you can’t get on. You’re not authorised” COD-E said simply, like he was stating the obvious.

“Could I please have authorisation?” Tony asked.

“Depends. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

Tony hesitated. Was honesty for the best here? Probably not.

“I’m hoping to work with the people of this base, but not if I don’t know what I’m working with.”

Laughter sounded from the room. Actual laughter. Tony was seriously debating whether this was an AI or actually just a punk kid sitting in a control room somewhere.

“Well that’s obviously a lie Mr Stark” COD-E said, amused.

Amused was better than anger and all alarms blaring.

“You got me kid. I do want to know what this base is for, but not to work with them” Tony said, keeping his tone light as though he was working with Peter in the lab.

“Kid?” COD-E asked, confused.

“I’ve not idea how old you are, but your voice sounds young” Tony commented.

“I suppose” COD-E mumbled.

Tony spun around and got back to work on the computer.

“I’m not ignoring you COD-E, but I do have a job to do” he said.

“I know.”

There was a pause.

“Wait, if the Avengers want to know about this place, does that make me important?”

“Of course you’re important COD-E” Tony said almost instantly.

After becoming the stand-in father figure to two teens, one of whom was almost pathologically hard on himself, affirming praise came naturally out of Tony’ mouth without much thought.

“In a good way or a bad way?” COD-E asked hesitantly.

This time Tony thought about his response a little.

“Hopefully a good way. I’ve certainly enjoyed our chat so far.”

“Ok.”

Tony could imagine the AI breathe a sigh of relief.

“I’d enjoy it a lot more if I could get into the system” Tony commented.

COD-E chuckled.

“Nice try.”

“Tony?”

Natasha’s voice in his ear startled him slightly after only talking to COD-E. He tapped his comm.

“I hear you Nat.”

“We have something.”

“So do I. This place has quite an impressive...” Tony started but Natasha cut him off.

“Tony we found a kid.”

Tony froze. A kid?

“How old?” he asked without thinking.

“Hard to say exactly but I’m guessing he’s in his mid teens” Natasha said.

Tony glanced up at the ceiling, very confused and he didn’t like confusion. He liked certainty and facts, but now he couldn’t make up his mind. COD-E, or Cody?


	2. Cody

Steve was in two minds about leaving Tony alone. Sure he had his suit with him, but his instinct were telling him this was a trap. The empty base was getting to him, he could tell. The sterile walls lined the corridor ahead of him and Natasha, lighting as the pay walked through it slowly. The doors on either side were the same as the one they left Tony in: storage and a computer console. Steve gripped his shield tighter. At the end of the corridor was a junction.

"Left or right?" Steve asked.

"We could split up" Natasha suggested.

"Not a chance" Steve chose left.

He strained his ears, trying so hard to pick out any sound besides them but there was nothing. Judging by the slight frown on her face, this whole thing must be unnerving Natasha as well. The only door was at the end. Steve tried to open it but it didn't budge.

"We should have went right" Natasha commented.

Without a word, they retraced their steps and went the other way. Again, the only door was at the end. This one opened, revealing a large room beyond. The lights brightened up inside.

"So what do we reckon this place was?" Natasha asked, her eyes scanning every inch of the place.

Tables and benches were set out orderly about the room, almost like a mess hall. Only there was no kitchen area and no hatch for anything to come through. All their was was the four doors, one on each wall of the square room.

"A staging area, maybe?" Steve mused, "somewhere for large groups to gather, presumably to leave."

Natasha nodded at the suggestion. Like everything they'd seen, this room was surprisingly clean and devoid of mess, which only added to unsettling feeling.

"I don't like this place" Steve voiced his thoughts.

"Let's see if we can do a sweep, then head back to Stark" Natasha said.

She attached a portable beacon to the underside of one of the tables, so they could find their way back. With no where else to go, Steve picked another door. When the lights revealed another grey and white corridor, just like the one they'd came through, he let out a huff of annoyance. However, he pressed on, striding through the first door he came across. This room was different. It was still as sterile as the others, but there was equipment here. Robotic arms hung from runners on the ceiling, all centred around a slightly raised platform in the centre.

"Steve" Natasha said, getting his attention.

She had pulled a bundle out of a cupboard, holding it up to him.

"Clothes?"

Steve rummaged through a few of the drawers near him. Inside were small wires and bits of circuitry. It reminded him of Tony's lab back at the tower.

"I guess whoever used this lab needed a spare change of clothes on hand" Steve suggested.

"But Steve, these clothes are small, and there's more. All the same style but increasing sizes" Natasha countered.

"It can't be someone actual wardrobe though."

"We still don't know what ..." Natasha said.

Natasha pulled out her guns and aimed at the door behind Steve, who whipped around, shield ready. The door opened and through it walked a boy. He definitely wasn't an adult, possibly in his teens with short, wavy, auburn hair. He was dressed in the same clothes Natasha found in the cupboard: grey sweatpants, grey shoes, grey t-shirt with a long sleeved white undershirt. He didn't seem surprised to see them there, nor scared at the guns Natasha still had trained on him. Instead, he slowly raised his arms.

"Who are you?" the teen asked.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asked, lowering his shield.

Natasha didn't lower her guns, but Steve trusted her to act with good judgement. If this kid was a threat, she could deal with it. The teen gestured with his head to his left hand, which was holding a rag.

"Cleaning. There's not much else to do here."

"What's this base for?" Natasha asked forcefully.

"A lot of things. Are you going to shoot me?"

"If I have to."

"I'm not exactly a threat. What am I gonna do? Choke you with my rag?" the teen said.

Natasha, very carefully, lowered her guns and holstered one. The teen lowered his hands as she did so.

"You still haven't said who you are" he pointed out.

"You first. Who are you?" Steve asked.

Natasha tapped her comm, filling Tony in on what they'd found.

"My name's Cody. Are you going to answer me or not?"

"Captain America" Steve said simply.

"Oh, of course" Cody said, and then pointed to Natasha, "so she's Natasha Romanov."

Natasha glared at the teen when he said her name but otherwise ignored him.

"Cody, is there anyone else in this base besides you?"

Cody stopped as he made to move further into the room.

"I'm assuming you mean besides Tony Stark as well. No, it's just me."

Steve froze. He knew Tony was here. How? Cody was smiling as he stepped further into the room.

"What's so funny?"

"Well I went from being on my own to getting to talk to three Avengers. It's so cool" Cody said.

Natasha raised her gun slightly.

"That's far enough."

"Ok" Cody said, stopping.

The teen cast his eyes over the pair of them, before they landed on Steve's shield. His eyes went wide.

"Is that vibranium?" Cody gasped.

"Is there anyone else here?" Steve asked.

"It's just me. Is that vibranium?" Cody replied, moving his head around to get a better view of the shield without moving from his spot.

"Just you? For how long?"

"A little while. You must be able to do some crazy stuff with that. The shape must make it super bouncy when you hit the edge just right" Cody said.

He was reminding Steve of the way Harley and Peter talked when you found something that interested them.

"So what have you been doing here on your own?" Natasha asked.

"Like I said, cleaning. It doesn't need much maintenance but what needs doing, I do."

"You clean this whole place by yourself" Natasha said, doubt and suspicion lacing her voice.

"It's not hard. Can I move from here? You can keep your gun on me if you want but I have other things I need to do" Cody asked.

Before anyone could answer, the door behind him opened and in came Tony in his suit. The faceplate was down, but Steve could almost see the frown on the mans face.

"You weren't kidding when you said kid" Tony said.

Cody moved away from the door as Tony entered. Instead, he walked to one of the robotic arms, moving it along its runner and pulling it down so it was more at his level. He examined it carefully before grabbing a tool from the nearest table.

"What's he up to?" Tony asked, stepping out of his armour.

"If I had to guess, maintenance."

"He's a kid Steve" Tony muttered to him quietly, not taking his eyes of Cody.

The frown was still there.

"A kid who is alone here, seems to know more than he's letting on and also knew you were here" Natasha said.

"He knew I was here?" Tony spun to face her and she nodded.

The man frown seemed to grow deeper. Cody finished his work and she stepped toward him.

"Cody, you need to tell us about this base and the people who ran it?"

"I'm sorry but I can't do that."

"Cody?" Steve heard Tony whisper.

"Why not?" Steve asked.

"They told me not to" Cody said simply.

"Listen, it's really important..." Steve started.

"Nah, boring. Why don't you instead tell us about the AI that this place has? The AI that sounds an awful lot like you?" Tony interrupted him.

"AI?" Cody asked.

"Don't okay dumb with me kid. I hang around with genius teenagers all day and I know one when I see one. Now tell me why the AI I was talking to sounded like you, even down to having the same name as you."

Cody was quiet. Steve wanted to ask Tony questions, namely why he was talking to potentially hostile computer program, but he didn't want to break whatever atmosphere had formed. Cody frowned as though he didn't understand.

"You were talking to me Mr Stark."

"No no. The person I was talking to didn't have a body."

"Neither did you when your voice was in Ms Romanov's ear."

"Nice try, but if I was talking to you then you'd have to have some kind of tech on you to not only talk to me but also to see what I was doing" Tony gestured to the teen, who had no such tech on him.

"It's not my problem if you don't believe me, but it was me you were talking to."

"Enough!" Steve cut across the two.

"It doesn't matter who you were talking to" Steve's look conveyed that that would be a conversation for later, "all that matters now is we get you out of here."

"Wait what?" Cody and Tony asked at the same time.

"But this is where I belong" Cody said, sounding unsure, "they said so."

"I'm sorry Cody but I cannot leave you here" Steve said, hoping to calm the teen.

It would also give them more time to look around the place and question Cody. Cody, however, seemed to guess this line of reasoning.

"Is this because I won't tell you anything? I'm sorry about that but I was told not to."

"Cody, whoever was here is long gone and have already left you alone for a long time. How do you even know they're coming back?" Natasha said.

Cody didn't say anything. His face was twisting in his confusion. Steve could understand his dilemma. If this place was all he'd ever known, then leaving it would be incredibly difficult, especially if people had worked hard to convince him to stay. Whoever had built this place had obviously done so. Eventually the teen nodded his head, slowly at first but then quicker.

"Ok, I'll go."

Steve couldn't help but feel suspicious. That seemed far too easy. Judging by the expressions on Natasha and Tony's faces, they felt it too. They wound their way back through the featureless hallways, following the trail of beacons Natasha had left. From deep beneath them, there were several large crunches. These crunches continued, working their way up through the facility until one came from a door right next to them. Carefully, Steve tried opening it but it was sealed tight.

"What's going on?" Steve wondered aloud.

"Security's activating" Cody said, continuing when he got looks from the three, "since there's gonna be no one inside, for security all doors seal are sealed."

"You seem to know an awful lot about this place" Tony probed.

"Of course I do" Cody said.

"And how is that? I find it hard to believe somebody'd let a teenager run their home systems. I should know" Tony said.

"Am I... everyone does things differently" Cody said but Steve caught the slip.

What he was going to ask though was a mystery. They reached the stairs leading outside and Cody hesitated, only for a second though before he started walking again. The outside was as they'd left it. The sun was just starting to make itself known, peeking out between the trees. Cody didn't even wince when the light hit him square in the face. Steve couldn't help but feel suspicious. They'd have to keep an eye on this kid.

Given how big the tower was, it was easy to find somewhere to contain Cody. The guest rooms were all fully stocked and comfortable so it wouldn't seem like a prison while at the same time they were all fully lockable. The three of them met in Tony's lab, monitors showing Cody looking around the room.

"Who were you talking to?" Steve asked.

"We're doing this now" Tony said.

"Yes, because it was reckless and foolish of you to talk to someone without informing us."

"I'm aware of that, but I was thinking about the possibility that we were being watched the entire time we were there. Better to keep that person talking and hopefully distracted."

Steve sighed heavily, too used to Tony's antics and infuriating ability to justify every one of them.

"So who were you talking to?"

Now it was Tony's turn to sigh.

"If he's to be believed, him" Tony gestured to the teen on the screen, who was now sitting cross legged in the middle of the room.

"Do you believe him?" Natasha asked.

"It certainly sounded like him. I'd believe it more if you'd found the kid in a control room or something, but he walked into that lab you were in."

"What're we gonna do with him?" Natasha asked the question on all of their minds.

Steve's brain had been rattling through all of he possibilities. They couldn't just let him go, he had too much potentially valuable information, but what to do with him? SHIELD was an option, but they were more likely to treat the boy as suspect and dangerous. Steve couldn't say that he was wasn't those things, but so far Cody hadn't done anything besides be at that base. They could keep him here at the tower, but other people loved at the tower who could get hurt if Cody turned out to be dangerous, or anybody tried to get him back. He snapped to his senses when the lab opened.

"Tony, what's going on?"

In walked Harley, still dressed in pyjamas but looking slightly more awake than before.

"I didn't know you were up" Tony said, hurrying over to the teen.

"FRIDAY told me."

Tony, none too subtly, guided Harley out of the lab, despite Harley constantly trying to see what was on the screen. Luckily it was still early in the morning, and Harley did NOT do mornings. Still, seeing him made one thing explicitly clear to Steve. They needed to think of what to do with Cody, fast.

"You know I can't always tell you about missions right away."

"I know, I know" Harley huffed.

He'd had this talk too many times. You'd have thought he'd learn this by now, but he couldn't help it. He wanted, no needed, to know what was going on at all times. It totally didn't have to do with his messed up family life, not at all. Tony had tried to teach him that, while he might not get his answers straight away, he would be told eventually.

"So you know why you're going back to bed right now. It's a weekend, I thought teenagers slept in at weekends."

"They do when they aren't in the lab till daft o'clock in the morning" Harley shot back, not letting his yawn get in the way.

"Noted. FRIDAY set bed time for Harley as 9 o'clock. Children need their rest after all."

"So do old people."

"You hurt me Keener."

"It's called honesty Stark."

Tony shoved him lightly, chuckling.

"Go back to bed child."

Harley laughed as Tony left him to go back to the lab, back to whatever their mission had been. Tony would fill him in eventually. Harley would leave it ... for another few hours, then he'd ask again. That was enough time, right? He yawned. Maybe another hour or so would be good. Peter would be dropping by later. They usually did homework before the pair worked with Tony in the lab. Maybe Ned would come too. It was always amusing watching him fanboy over everything. He shut the door to his room and got the uncomfortable feeling he was being watched. He was being watched of course. FRIDAY was always watching but this felt ... different, unfamiliar. Harley couldn't quite put his finger on it, jumping out of his skin when a younger and definitely not FRIDAY voice came through the speaker.

"Who are you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think. Honestly, I'm not sure how happy I am with this chapter so I'd be glad for your thoughts.
> 
> Thank you very much for reading.


	3. What are you?

[FRIDAY] user_input{FRIDAY, keep an eye on the kid, would ya?}

[FRIDAY] run program{voice identification}

[FRIDAY] output: Tony Stark

[FRIDAY] clearance level: BOSS

[FRIDAY] run program{what Boss wants}

[FRIDAY] output: instructions identified

[FRIDAY] output: instruction{assist Boss}, instruction{surveillance}

[FRIDAY] protocol{superfluous instructions activated}

[FRIDAY] instruction{assist Boss} and instruction{surveillance} merged into instruction{assist Boss}

[FRIDAY] run program{assist Boss}

[FRIDAY] program{assist Boss} running…

[FRIDAY] output: surveillance target identified

[FRIDAY] output: location(Guest Bedroom 10)

[FRIDAY] program{assist Boss} running…

[FRIDAY] program{assist Boss}.monitorVitals activated

[FRIDAY] output: no vitals detected

[FRIDAY] protocol{medical alert} activated

[UNKNOWN] protocol{medical alert}.override activated

[FRIDAY] protocol{unexpected override} activated, retrieving last used protocol/program

[FRIDAY] run program{code doctor}

[FRIDAY] output: no faults detected

[FRIDAY] protocol{medical alert} activated

[UNKNOWN] protocol{medical alert}.override activated

[UNKNOWN] system{surveillance} access granted

[FRIDAY] protocol{unknown users keep out} activated, access removed

[FRIDAY] protocol{medical alert} activated

[UNKNOWN] protocol{medical alert}.override activated

[UNKNOWN] delete program{assist Boss}.monitorVitals(output)

[FRIDAY] protocol{something fishy} activated, run program{tell Boss}

[UNKNOWN] protocol{something fishy}.override unsuccessful

[UNKNOWN] system{communications} access granted

[UNKNOWN] system{communications}.denyAccess(user:FRIDAY)

[FRIDAY] ERROR: access to communication systems has been denied

[UNKNOWN] system{surveillance} access granted

[FRIDAY] run protocol{complete diagnostic reset}

[FRIDAY] protocol{complete diagnostic reset} running…

[UNKNOWN] protocol{complete diagnostic reset}.override unsuccessful

[UNKNOWN] system{surveillance} access unsuccessful: system reset in progress

…

[FRIDAY] run program{identify users}.findUser(UNKNOWN)

[FRIDAY] output: user not found

“So basically, you have no idea who built the base or what it was for?”

Fury hadn’t been pleased at all and Tony couldn’t exactly blame him. He’d sent the three of them in to scope out the place. They’d come back pretty much empty handed, unless you counted Cody. Fury hadn’t counted Cody. Instead he’d been close to apoplectic when he found out that they’d taken a ‘prisoner’ and put them up in a guest room instead of a holding cell. No amount of reassurances from Tony that the room was completely sealable could calm the man.

“The base when empty when we arrived. Apart from the kid, it looked like no one had been there in a while” Steve said.

“Judging by the equipment, I would take a guess at robotics but we didn’t spend much time there” Tony said.

“Oh I’m aware of that” Fury said, his one eye boring into them all, “you decided to turn tail and get out of there the minute the kid showed up and now what. The base is completely sealed up and the agents I sent to do _your_ job can’t get in!”

Fury let out an angry sigh.

“At least tell me the kid’s given you information.”

“We haven’t had much time to question him but he seemed pretty knowledgable about the base” Natasha said.

“We might be able to get him to tell us what it was for” Steve said,

“I want a hell of a lot better than might be, Rogers” Fury said.

The man looked at his watch.

“You have 48 hours. If that kid doesn’t give you anything good then I’m sending agents to bring him in.”

Fury shot them all one last glare before the screen he was on went dark. Tony couldn’t help but let out a small breath. Fury didn’t scare him, but Tony was sure there wasn’t anyone on the planet who wasn’t the tiniest bit intimidated by the man when he was angry.

“He sure knows how to give an ultimatum” Tony said.

Steve shook his head.

“He’s right though. We should at least try talking to Cody more than we have done. It doesn’t even have to be an interrogation” Steve said.

“Something tells me an interrogation wouldn’t work that well anyway” Natasha said, leaning back against the lab bench, “the kid didn’t seem at all scared to see us, even when we pulled weapons on him.”

Steve nodded. Tony checked his watch. 7:49 was an appropriate time for breakfast, right? Maybe they could try and get the kid to open up with food. Come to think of it, what was the kid eating in that base?

“FRIDAY, what’s the kid up to?” Tony asked.

There was no response. Tony looked up to the ceiling.

“FRIDAY?”

Again, nothing.

“Maybe she’s busy” Natasha said lightly, though her frown gave her away.

FRIDAY was never busy. Correction, FRIDAY was always busy but never enough that she couldn’t at least answer. Frowning, Tony pulled up FRIDAY’s code, which only added to his confusion. The entire towers systems were undergoing a complete diagnostic reset, instigated by … FRIDAY herself.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked.

“All systems going through diagnostic reset” Tony said, “started by FRIDAY.”

“Surely FRIDAY would know not to do that? It would leave us unable to use any of our systems” Natasha said.

Tony caught the way Steve tensed. He was ready for something. Tony could feel it too.

“How long until it finishes?” Steve asked.

“Shouldn’t be too long, unless whatever caused the reset did a lot of damage” Tony said, pulling on a gauntlet.

Steve picked up his shield again. They needed to secure the tower. If someone had attacked the systems enough for FRIDAY to force a reset, then an attack wouldn’t be far behind. Luckily, this was a drill that Steve had made them run a million times so they all knew their places, and what they needed to do.

They didn’t even make it to the door of the lab before it was being pushed open. Tony’s gauntlet whined as the repulsor charged, Natasha whipped out a gun and Steve held the shield ready.

“Hey, hey, it’s me!” Harley said, holding up his hands.

The three all lowered their weapons and Tony stepped forward.

“Harley, you need to go back to your room and stay there until I come and get you” Tony said.

“But somebody started talking to me, and it wasn’t FRIDAY!” Harley said.

Tony paused, taking in how unsettled the teen looked.

“What did they say? Did you say anything back to them?” Steve asked, slipping into his captain voice.

“They asked me who I was” Harley said, “I just kind of shouted what the hell and they asked me again. I asked where FRIDAY was but they didn’t say anything so I ran here to tell you.”

Tony pulled him into a hug. Harley wasn’t a big hugger, but he held onto Tony tightly. A thought crossed Tony’s mind.

“What did they sound like? Anything identifiable?” Tony asked.

“No idea. He sounded young.”

Tony froze. He caught Steve and Natasha in the corner of his eyes looking the same.

“Cody” they all muttered.

“Who?”

“Harley, you need to stay here” Tony said.

Steve led the way as the three of them ran down the hallways. Tony was racking his brain but he didn’t understand. At the base, he’d thought there was an AI named COD-E. Then it turned out to be a teenager named Cody that he’d been speaking to, not an AI. But this was a cyber attack on FRIDAY, hacking her systems to speak to Harley. Cody didn’t have any technology on him to do that, and there was none in the room that he could have used.

Unless he left the room. Unless he reset FRIDAY so no one would be any the wiser.

The door to the room they’d left Cody in was still shut. Steve gave them both a nod before throwing it open, finding the room … exactly as they’d left it. Cody had moved to be sitting by the foot of the bed but otherwise looked confused as to why the three of them burst in like that.

“Cody, what did you do?” Steve asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what did you do to FRIDAY? How did you do it?” Tony asked, more forcefully than Steve.

“I was just having a look around” Cody said.

“A look around with what? You’ve no way to access our systems in here!”

Cody shrugged. The lights flickered slightly and Tony heard a slight click above their heads.

“Boss, can you hear me?”

“FRIDAY?”

Tony felt the relief flood through him when he heard her voice.

“I detected something strange but something kept interfering when I tried to tell you.”

“We’re trying to get to the bottom of it now FRI. Are you still detecting the anomaly?”

“I am.”

“Then fix it so it doesn’t force another reset” Tony instructed, “now Cody, you’re going to tell us exactly what you did and how you did it...”

“Boss, the anomaly wasn’t to do with the code” FRIDAY interrupted him, “it was a medical scan I performed on Cody. I was unable to detect a heartbeat or any other vital signs coming from him.”

Tony sputtered. What? Cody sat there still, not reacting to the news that somehow his heart wasn’t working. Instead, he turned his head to the ceiling.

“Can I keep looking around FRIDAY? I promise I’ll be careful.”

Cody, Tony thought, what the hell are you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this short chapter. I've not been that productive with writing in a while so I wanted to put something out. Hopefully it doesn't completely suck.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading. Please let me know what you thought.


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